A lot less fun
by NightwingGrayson
Summary: Richard Grayson has a breakdown at school after a group of boys play a cruel joke. Artemis Crock and Barbara Gordon take care of him. A little fluffy, a little bittersweet. Artemis acts like a bit of an older sister.


RGRGRGRGRGRGRGRGRGRG

Dick Grayson poked out his tongue at his friend as they walked down the corridor. It was deathly quiet down there- probably because most of the students in Gotham Academy were in class already. He wasn't worried though, late as he was for his lesson- Richard was getting his books for calculus (undeniably his best subject) and he and his friend were positively saints in the eyes of the teacher.

Said friend (and receiver of the ever so mature poked-out tongue) was Barbara Gordon, one of Richard's best friends and daughter of Gotham's own Commissioner Gordon.

'-very mature, Grayson,' Barbara was saying, while Richard scribbled down answers for homework he was supposed to have finished. 'Poke your tongue out all you want.'

'I will,' he told her, not bothering to look up while he added the working out under a question. 'And I did mean to do the homework, I just got… side-tracked.'

_If being sent on covert missions two nights in a row before patrolling Gotham__ counts, _Richard thought, hiding a grin from Babs. She didn't know about his being Robin, of course- Gotham's Boy Wonder and partner of the infamous Batman. Dick couldn't exactly tell her either- he had strict orders from Bruce to keep his civilian and hero life seperate- even from his friends. As he wrote another anwser, Richard wondered absently if his teammate Artemis (who had recently started attending Gotham Academy) was keeping up with her homework. It wasn't as though he could go and ask her though- she didn't know he was Robin, and while they had been friends at school for a little while, he wasn't going to risk rousing suspicions. Then again, maybe he could ask her at Mount Justice. Richard may not be able to ask, but _Robin _probably could.

The red-haired girl beside him made a noise remarkably like a hissing cat, and he looked up, startled. 'What?'

'Them,' she said, glaring at the end of the hallway.

Dick followed her line of sight and rolled his bright blue eyes. It was a group of sophomore's that Dick knew by sight, and not by name. He hoped to keep it that way, seeing as that particular group delighted in making anyone with even average intelligence's life hell. As a mathlete and top of most of his classes, Dick was certainly in the firing line.

Still, he didn't pay them much attention as he made towards the space where he knew his locker was. He should have been though, and then maybe he might have had warning for what was coming next.

'What was the "side-track" anyway?' Barbara asked, eyes gleaming.

Richard shrugged, writing another seven on his page. Shifting the books in his arms, Dick reached for his lock and he heard Barbara gasp. Dick looked at her, confused, before he looked up from his homework and at the locker door.

His books fell out of his hands.

There were splashes of dark red paint across the front of the locker, and there was some sort of paper plastered on beneath it.

Dick's mouth went dry, he took a few steps back, and he felt sick heat run from his head to his toes. The paper held the words "Flying Grayson's". Someone behind him was snickering. Richard heard a ringing in his ears. He was going to faint or be sick any second.

'Was it that messy, Grayson?' a voice called out.

Yes, it had been, Richard recalled, as someone shouted something he barely heard. There had been blood everywhere, the same colour as the paint, the paint that was dripping onto the locker below his. It was the same as the night **they** had died. The night the ropes had snapped and-

His hands were balled into fists, and felt a shiver run up his body, as he tried to force the memory down. He didn't need to see it; he didn't want to see it. Was he hyperventilating? Was someone trying to talk to him? It didn't matter. He couldn't get enough air- there wasn't enough air!

His trembling legs gave out from under him, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move, couldn't turn his head away.

Dick's eyes clamped shut. _Please! I don't want to see this! _He didn't want to watch his parents die again. Watch the ropes snap. Watch horror dawn in his family's eyes as they began to fall.

But what he wanted didn't matter. His head filled with the sound of screams and he wasn't on the ground in the corridor anymore. No… he was trapped inside a red and white circus tent.

ACACACACACACACACACACACACAC

Artemis Crock was not in a good mood.

She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before school, or the night before that, thanks to surprise missions from Batman. Still, at least they had all been successful (unlike results for her science write-up). At least now she had a free period- maybe she'd actually get some homework done.

'Shut up!' she heard someone shriek from nearby. Whoever it was, they were getting laughed at- Artemis could hear almost insane laugher from around the corner. Her pale eyebrows formed a "v" as she frowned and her jaw set. Maybe the whole hero-gig was getting to her, or maybe she'd just always hated people being bullied- either way, she'd quickened her pace.

_Wait,_ _is that Dick Grayson?_

It certainly looked like him, what with the dark, slicked back hair and well-kept uniform. Still, while she hadn't been friends with him for very long, Artemis knew that the scene in front of her was not normal behaviour for the freshman or... or anyone really. He was sitting in the middle of the corridor, legs splayed out in front of him, back stiff. His eyes were closed, and he was facing a… red locker? No- it was his locker, covered in red paint. There were sheets of paper littering the floor, as well as a couple of books beside him.

Artemis saw that Barbara was kneeling at his side, her hand on his arm as she gave him a little shake. Her face was as pale as his was flushed.

'Dick?' Artemis heard her whisper. She didn't notice she was running over to the pair until she had skidded to a stop as she reached Barbara. 'What's wrong with hi-?'

There was a fresh burst of laughter. 'Yeah, Gordon. What _is_ wrong with him? Does the charity case miss his family?' The sound of laughter was coming from a group of boys down the hall who were drinking in the scene. She didn't know them by name, but she knew they liked to cause trouble. Her eyes flicked onto the locker, and her blood began to boil. The paint was supposed to look like blood, and it did. Artemis looked at the poster beneath and felt bile rise in her throat. It was a circus poster- probably from the circus Dick had told her about (after all, he'd had a life before becoming Bruce Wayne's ward).

From what she could see, the poster was announcing a cancelled show. However, there was black marker writing across the page, where the boys had added their own messages. "R.I.P circus freak!" was sprawled across two of the corners and as she read on, Artemis felt hot, angry tears sting her eyes.

She blinked them away and whipped around to face the thugs who were using baby voices and making rude faces at Barbara and Dick.

'You think this is _funny?!' _she shrieked, grabbing the tie of the closest guy and pulling him down to her level. Dick was an orphan- he'd lost his parents and the boys were treating it like a **joke**! The look in her eye stopped the teen from answering. _'Leave them alone!'_

'You gonna make us?'

'Yeah, I am,' she snarled, dropping the kid and turning to face his friend. She wished she had her bow, but her fists and feet woud do enough damage.

'I wouldn't go picking fights, Blondie,' he said, dark eyes cold. 'If people think you're causing trouble then that little scholarship is gone, and something tells me you can't pay for this school without it.' Artemis heard a voice in the back off her mind (that sounded remarkably like Jade) telling her to sucker-punch him anyway, but she didn't. This was what her mom wanted for her, and she wasn't going to give up a place at Gotham Academy just because of some punk and his friends. They weren't worth it. She lowered her half-raised fist. 'That's what I thought.'

'Just get out of here!' Artemis snapped. What threat did she have now? "I'll tell on you"? There was nothing to back her up and they knew it.

'We were pretty much done anyway,' the leader said, giving her a mean little smirk. 'I was hoping Grayson was going to start bawling, but I guess you can't have everything.'

Artemis' eyes flashed, and this time the voice was more like her dad's, telling her the family had a reputation to keep and that she should hurt the boys as badly as they had hurt Richard. After all, he was an friend (an ally) of hers, and she couldn't let this slip… But she had to. She let them leave, laughing as they did, and told herself that they weren't worth it.

When the last of them had disappeared, Artemis turned back towards her friends. Dick was still shaking, eyes closed, and it didn't take a genius to guess that Barbara's attempts to bring him back into full consciousness hadn't worked. Barbara was fiddling with her phone, and Artemis had the feeling her shaking hands weren't helping her type numbers.

'Richard?' Artemis asked, kneeling in front of the dark haired boy. 'Can you hear me?'

Nothing.

'I'm going to _castrate_ those boys!' Barbara cried angrily. Artemis saw tears in her eyes as Babs pressed the phone to her ear. _I'll help you with that, _Artemis thought viciously. 'Is Mr Wayne there? No I- What? Yes I did… Look I don't care if he's in a meeting-!'

Artemis gave Richard a little shake, and noticed him twitch ever so slightly. 'Richard? Dick, can you hear me?' She didn't think he was unconscious- you tended to go limp when that happened, and he was too tense. What could he be seeing? Artemis had her suspicions. He was probably trapped in his memories.

'No! Don't put me on hold! I- What? Yes! Could you please tell him it's Barbara Gordon and- hello? Mr Wayne? Yes it's Barbara, Dick's friend. I-I'm sorry to bother you, but Dick has fainted or something and he's not waking up. Yes. No, he's sort of-' there was a long pause and Babs fell silent, listening. 'Five minutes? Okay, thank-' Barbara frowned, and Artemis had the feeling she'd been hung up on.

'Is he on his way?' Artemis asked.

Barbara nodded. 'He said not to move Dick too much,' said the girl, as she tucked her phone into her pocket. There was silence for a long second, as Barbara and Artemis looked at Dick. 'I-I'm going to put his books away,' Barbara said quietly.

Artemis nearly laughed, but given the circumstances, she managed to swallow it down. _Trust Barbara to be worried about her friends' books at a time like- _The blonde took another look at her friend and her thoughts abruptly cut off. Barbara just wanted to be doing something, anything. She wanted to feel like she was helping Dick, even with something as simple as putting his books away. As a suddenly useless feeling hero, Artemis found she could relate.

She found herself helping Barbara pile the papers together. They neither of them wanted to touch the locker, so when Barbara began spinning the combination she kept sole focus on that, refusing to look at Artemis or the messages on the poster.

'We should rip down their little display,' Artemis hissed, her hands balling into fists when she read another message.

'No,' Barbara said softly, placing the books inside.

'What? Why not?!' demanded the older putting her hands on her hips.

Her friend folded her arms as she snapped the locker shut. 'Evidence,' Barbara said, and Artemis remembered all at once that she was Commissioner Gordon's daughter. 'They're getting kicked out for this!'

Artemis felt a wicked smile spread across her face as she saw that the boys had signed their names or initials at the bottom of the poster. 'We'll make sure of it,' she promised, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.

A little while later, hurried footsteps announced the arrival of Bruce Wayne. Concern for his ward, and or son, was adamant- the second he saw Dick, Wayne's face drained of colour and he quickened his pace.

'Dick?' Artemis moved so that Mr Wayne could kneel in front of his ward. He checked his pulse, blanched, and then pulled something from his suit pocket.

It was a needle.

'What are you doing?' Artemis and Barbara demanded.

'It won't hurt him,' Mr Wayne promised, pulling up Dick's sleeve. 'This should calm him down enough so he'll wake up.'

Artemis cringed a little when he put the needle in, and looked away. She'd hated needles since she was little- since a bad experience during immunisation week. The nurse at her kindergarten couldn't find her vein and Artemis had been stuck with the needle four times, before slapping the thing away and running off. Jade had found her a few minutes later, in a tree and far out of reach.

Richard stirred slightly and he very slowly opened his eyes. Barbara threw her arms around him. 'Hey, Babs,' he said softly, giving her a little smile. Artemis noticed his eyes were red, but that didn't stop her giving him a happy, relieved smile. 'Hey, Arty.'

'Little troll,' she muttered, smiling. It was usually a name given to Robin, but since not everyone could recover from a mental breakdown so quickly, she'd let him borrow it. The fact that he called her "Arty" might have had something to do with it too. She recalled that he had experimented with "Missy" for a little while, and a fresh wave of anger surged when she thought of the boys, and what they had done to Dick.

'Are you alright?' Mr Wayne asked.

Richard didn't look surprised to see him there, even though Dick had only verbally greeted Barbara and herself. Maybe he and Mr Wayne had the same sort of telepathic conversations as Robin and Batman, or the sort of conversations she heard between Wally and Flash, that no one else ever seemed to follow. When the question registered Dick's face shadowed over, and he shook his head. 'Not really,' he admitted. Wayne looked concerned, but that eased when he added: 'I think I missed calculus.'

Barbara laughed, looking much brighter than she had minutes before. Artemis grinned at him, and was happy to see him give a little grin back. It vanished a second later, when he looked past her and at his locker. He looked down at his shoes.

'Alfred is waiting in the car,' Mr Wayne told Dick softly, before looking up at the two friends. 'Would you girls do me an enormous favour and help him get there?' Artemis and Barbara nodded. _Wait, who's Alfred? _'It's in the usual place,' he added in afterthought. Mr Wayne took a long, almost brooding look at the locker and rumbled: 'I'm going to have a chat with the principal.'

What she wouldn't have given to hear that conversation! Those idiots were dead meat. Somehow Artemis managed to contain another wicked smile and turned her attention back to the small, dark haired boy. Her gaze softened a little as she looked at him- he looked like Robin a little, like her surrogate brother, only sadder (and with slicked back hair). Maybe that was why she felt so protective of him- because while she couldn't imagine Robin ever being so solemn, Richard still reminded her of him.

Artemis and Barbara helped Dick up, who insisted he could "walk just fine" but fell silent after Barbara latched onto his arm. The archer allowed herself a small smile at that- they'd make a pretty cute couple if they ever got together. The walk outside, past the shiny silver lockers and red brick walls, didn't take long, but it seemed to go forever. Probably because they were all so lost in thought. When they left the main building, Barbara steered them both towards the long, dark car that Artemis bet would have cost more money than her mother's apartment.

They were greeted by an elderly man Artemis recognised (though she couldn't put a name to his face, she knew he was the one who dropped off and picked up Dick everyday), who looked on in concern. _What's his name? Mr Wayne mentioned it like, two seconds ago! _'Hi, Alfred.' _Alfred, _Artemis thought. _I'll have to remember that. _

Alfred (he was Dick's butler, right?) gave Dick a little smile, and Artemis thought he looked pretty grandfatherly. Or at least, what a grandfather should look like- she'd met her own grandfather a few times, but none of the visits had been overly special, and he wasn't the kindly old man Alfred seemed like.

'I- Thanks, guys,' Richard said softly, as Alfred pulled the car door open. Artemis shrugged- he didn't need to thank them, they were his friends, weren't they? It was just something you did.

Barbara wrapped him up in a tight hug again. 'Call me tonight, okay?'

'Yes, ma'am,' he laughed, giving her a little salute. She gave him one last smile before stepping back.

'Will you be okay?' Artemis heard herself ask, as he climbed into the back seat.

'I'll be fine,' he promised, grinning as he pulled his seat belt on, as if a thought had occurred to him. The car started, and Barbara and Artemis stepped back. 'Don't worry, guys- I'm already feeling whelmed.'

And then he was gone, and Artemis was staring after the car, blinking very rapidly while Barbara groaned. Whelmed- he said _whelmed_. Only Robin said things like that.

'Not with that word again,' Babs said, shaking her head, though was a definite grin on her face. 'No wonder his English teacher hates him.'

'How long has he been doing that? Making up words, I mean,' Artemis asked, as they walked back towards the school building. Was it possible? Could Richard Grayson be Robin?

'Who, Dick?' Artemis nodded as casually as she could and Barbara laughed. 'Forever! I think it's because he didn't get prefixes when he learnt English.'

_'Learnt English?'_

'Sure,' Barbara said, tossing her long red hair over her shoulder, grinning at the blonde. 'He's Romani, after all. That's why I know so many good foreign swear words.'

Artemis laughed. How could she have thought that bookish, mathlete and not-exactly-sporty Dick Grayson, was **Robin**? It made her grin grow into something resembling her sister's Cheshire mask. Still, she couldn't help but laugh when another thought occurred to her. If Richard was Robin that made **Bruce Wayne** _Batman_, and imagining the billionaire dressing up as the Dark Knight was just too funny.

She hoped her friend would be alright, because Gotham Academy was much less fun when he wasn't around.

R&R!


End file.
